Why Are These Catfish Swimming at the Top of the Water in Benton? [Video]
A listener uploaded the video below. As you can see, quite a few catfish are swimming at the top of the water here. The question here today is (in a British accent) - "what's all this, then?"
The narrator claims that this is off of Benton road, but offers few other details. Was this a case of low oxygen in the water? Most certainly, but what was the cause of that? I was left with more questions than answers, so I went into detective mode. I always knew watching Longview Texas' own Matthew McConaughey in True Detective would pay off.
First, I looked through the video frame by frame for clues. That's when I saw this:
Naturally, I called a friend who knows everyone - surely she would know something about "Steve". That's right - I called Google, and when I say "called," I mean I Googled it. My close personal friend (once again, Google) had some pictures for me to see, but I believe this one should look familiar.
What you are looking at is Steve's Cleaners in Benton. The weird pond is a stopped up drainage ditch with a tiny, albeit temporary, biosphere that most likely washed in with the latest batch of rain. They are all swimming at the top to, most likely, suck up the remaining oxygen in the water. Oxygen that can't be replaced fast enough for this many fish by a long-shot. Normally this is done by aquatic plants in a lake or pond, but the ditch just isn't big enough for all of them to breathe for long.
I am basing this on the video evidence I have seen, my mysterious past in which I was paid to know about such things, and the very reliable information from my trusted source (Google). I may be wrong, but maybe - just maybe, I'm right.
This is how I feel right now.